Early Childhood Attachment and Education

EARLY CHILDHOOD ATTACHMENT AND EDUCATION
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Early Childhood Attachment and Education
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note
Introduction

EARLY CHILDHOOD ATTACHMENT AND EDUCATION
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The paper that I am going to critically analyse is titled “Early Attachment Relationships and
the Early Childhood Curriculum” by Alejandra Cortazar and Francisca Herreros. The paper
discusses the development of attachment in the early childhood phase and juxtaposes it with
the Early Childhood Curriculum. It compares the developmental process of two categories of
children in a same age group, one who has had a secure history of attachment with early
caregivers and the other who has never been able to attach securely to a caregiving entity.
The paper also considers Attachment Theory in its discussion of early childhood development
and tries to understand why not all children are able to equally attach to a particular preschool
setting. Lastly, it also analyses Developmentally Appropriate Practices and informs us why
DAP is not suited for children with secure attachment development issues.
Deconstruct
In developmental psychology, Attachment theory has been identified as one of the
most important developmental constructs which help us understand the effect of early life
experiences in human development (Holmes, 2014). Almost all human children are able to
develop an attachment with a caregiver figure, but the strength of the attachment relationships
depends on how effectively the primary caregiver is able to identify and address the needs of
the child (Cortazar & Herreros, 2010). Children in particular are extremely sensitive to inputs
and can perceive certain stimuli as harmful, in which case they require the comfort and
security of a guardian.
A lot of childhood development researchers have criticized attachment theory for
being too deterministic. Some have even considered that the education in the child
development field has also been misinterpreted and utilized to determine the parameters of
normal standards (Cortazar & Herreros, 2010).
Confront

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This paper resorts to prior research to establish the influence of secure attachment on
early childhood education. In a study the paper referred, the children were presented with
tasks that were challenging and found that children with secure attachment history were
comfortable with seeking help from their parents. This indicates a high correlation between
early childhood experience and the development of strategies for addressing pressing issues.
Children with relatively less history of secure attachment were uncomfortable asking for help
- a highly relatable scenario as a child with communication insecurities would find
approaching someone for help, uncomfortable (Dowling, 2014).
The issue of communication security has also been noticed in cases of popularity with
peers. Children with a history of secure attachment were also more popular amongst their
friends. At the same time, as students, children in the same category also performed well in
examinations, even though this is where I noticed a conflict with my prior notion regarding
academic success. I had the theory in my cognition that correlates introversion with high
academic performance. Multiple contemporary research however proves that the
phenomenon is inclined towards personal learning styles (Mozaffari & Ghodratinia, 2015).
Secure attachment in childhood also influences how a child perceives certain situations as
cognitively demanding and do not hesitate to seek out academic aid.
Thereafter the paper moves to evaluate whether early childhood education is all
inclusive. I think that the most important body in understanding this field is the National
Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). They had set objectives as to
have guidelines for programs seeking their accreditation and also to make a statement as a
response to the all-out academic approach to early childhood education.
Theorise